Today we celebrate Brynne who is now 5!  

Happy birthday Brynne!  We are so thankful you are in our class!! 

This morning the friends engaged their senses and explored the gak! 

Many of the friends chose to play school.  They reviewed the alphabet and practiced the sounds of the letters, just like we do in morning meeting!  

They also practiced the months of the years independently! 

Map exploration and creation was also popular today.  Maps help the children engage in symbolic development and understanding.  For example, the children understand that the line means a road.  Symbolic understanding is an important pre-reading skill.

Outdoor play! During outdoor play, the children are not only able to strengthen their large motor skills, but they are also able to engage in problem solving, conflict resolution, and sociodramatic play!

During small group time, we wrote letters in shaving cream!!  Mrs. Buchholz held up a letter, and helped the friends form it correctly in the shaving cream.  Of course we played a little bit in the shaving cream too.  :) 

We also worked to make a map of our classroom! 

Other friends helped me write a list of items needed for our cake baking on the SMART board. They each also starred in a video recording of how to make a cake.  I will compile these videos and compare them to the videos of how to make a cake after we make a cake.  :) 

We then watched a short video introducing how to make a cake!  We had questions about some words including ingredients and batter.  Through our cake baking, we will learn the meaning to those words!  :) 

During our second free choice time, some of the friends wrote recipes for birthday cakes.

Other friends worked to make a birthday cake.

Isaac made an electric mixer with a bowl and a spatula! 

We decided to change our kitchen area to be a birthday party area!  The friends decided that we needed a door for the party! We will see how we decide to change the environment after we bake our birthday cake tomorrow! 

During Jesus time, we learned the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis 37:1-11.  We learned that although people in different families are sometimes mean and unkind to each other, Jesus forgives us and our families!  

Happy Monday! 

The children were ready to get to playing this morning!

Will and Joey made a TALL tower.  They worked to count the magnetic tiles in his tower too! 

Our friends love to write!  Many of the friends choose to write in their journals during free choice.  This is a great time to engage in meaningful writing practice! 

We had fun exploring the maps again this morning too! 

Our class is learning cooperation and positive conflict resolution.  These social skills will benefit the children throughout their lives! 

We had a lot of fun outside today! 

During morning meeting, we learned about recipes.  We learned that recipes help you cook!  They tell you what ingredients to use and how to put them together to cook.  We are learning about recipes because Wednesday we are going to bake a birthday cake here at school! 

During small group time, we finished the maps from our houses to school. We also wrote our own recipe.  We will write another recipe after we make a cake as a class; it will be interesting to see how our recipes change! 

We also worked together in the block center! 

With Ms. Emma, we followed a recipe for Gak.  We helped read the ingredients and follow the directions to the recipe.  This activity also is a sensory exploration! 

During second free choice, the friends created together in the magnetic tiles.  As they created they strengthened their spatial relationship and problem solving skills! 

Other friends played birthday party in the kitchen! 

Some friends choose to play with the Gak.  

During Jesus time, we learned the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis 37:1-11.  We learned that although people in different families are sometimes mean and unkind to each other, Jesus forgives us and our families!  

We then went to the gym to run and play!  

The friends organized a game of Duck Duck Goose by themselves!